Johnny's in the Building

by Alexandra Stevenson

(4 October 2012)

As Johnny Weir leaves a short press interview
after his first practice in Finland, he smiles and ask the assembled
journalists, “Go to church tonight and say a prayer for me.” It’s
been over two and a half years since the now 28-year-old last
competed. That was at the 2010 Olympic Games, where he finished a
disappointed sixth. He admits that was devastating. “It was
horrible. I didn’t want to skate anymore. I felt I’d done the best I
could and it wasn’t enough. It was time to move on.”

He went on to have a huge success in television
with his own show, and was involved in a myriad of other activities.
But today, Thursday, he’s in the new Barona Areena (Finns love
double vowels), in Espoo, the country’s second city which adjoins
Helsinki, on the practice day for the Finlandia Trophy. The contest
begins Friday evening with the Short Program.

“I’m very excited about that because Lady GaGa
gave me the music herself.” But he’s obviously somewhat nervous.
“After I stopped skating, I didn’t follow the sport. I was too
upset. Now there are a lot of new faces I don’t know but some are
still around from my time.”

Crossing the Atlantic and losing seven hours is
hard. It’s quite normal for skaters from North America to this city,
not far from St. Petersburg, to have a difficult time adjusting,
with continuous yawns and bleary-eyed yawns and dragging feet. “Yes,
I am jetlagged,” Weir admits. “I couldn’t sleep at all from 2am to
5am, and then I couldn’t get up when I had to, but I am excited to
be here.

“I’ve lost 8 ½ kilos, 17 pounds, since I went
back into full training. First, I had to make some money to be able
to afford to train, but since then I’ve been working very hard.”
With his sleeked down hair tied back, he smiles looking fresh as a
daisy, not tired at all, and obviously he is enjoying himself. He
seems to draw energy from the buzz of excitement which always seems
to surround him. And why shouldn’t he? He is a world traveller of the
nth degree who recently was in Japan doing a highly popular show
with past world champions, Stephane Lambiel and Miki Ando.

In today’s practice, he performs his free, last
of the five men who are in his group. While the others do their full
routines, with Javier Ferdandez of Spain soaring through a quad toe
to triple toe but then crashing out several times on a quad Salchow,
Weir contents himself with gorgeous triple Lutzes. Before going
through his routine, the Axel attempts are all doubles and his toe
loops triples. He is obviously saving his energy for his turn.

When his music, “Sarabande”, starts, he does
indeed complete the rotation on the triple Axel and quad toe, but
steps out of both landings. He does not present much of the middle
section but the final part, set to “Requiem for a Dream” has some
unique moves. In one, in a kneeling position, he flings his head
back so that it almost touched the ice. Very interesting!!

“I definitely felt a little stiff and tired but
I can still shake my butt,” he said a little later. He is training
with his old coach, Galina Zmievskayia in Hackensack, NJ, but not
also with her prime pupil, the 1992 Olympic champion, Viktor
Petrenko. “Viktor’s training Michal Brezina (of the Czech Republic)
and we’re rivals so that doesn’t work out.”

Weir says he’s far less uptight now he is
married. “That’s been a big change in my lifestyle. I’m having a
life outside the rink. I’m not going to die if I lose or miss a
podium by a fraction. I don’t have to be pulled by the hair by
Galina to get me on the ice anymore.

“I did have boot problems to start. I’d had the
same pair since Vancouver and I had to get new ones.
I do want to go to Sochi (for the Olympics). It will be very
hard to do so. It will be a new step in my career. No matter what,
figure skating has gotten me to where ever I am in life, and I’m
pleased with that. I intend to try a quad in both the Short and the
Long Program here. I’m especially proud of the music for the Short.
It was given to me by Lady GaGa herself.”

Teammate
Richard Dornbush, on the same practice, wasn’t having too much
luck with his quad, either.

Dancers are in the building too

Earlier in the day, the third ranked US
Americans, Madison Hubbell &
Zach Donahue, were smiling as they left the ice.
Their run-through had gone
well and they were obviously enjoying themselves despite the
disorienting stress of the seven-hour time change. That was
magnified by their long overnight journey from Detroit, which was
made even more challenging by their five-hour wait for a connection
in Amsterdam Airport.

“It wasn’t too bad,” Hubbell said. “We were
traveling with our Detroit skaters (including Canadians
Kaitlyn Weaver & Andrew Poje
and the Australians, Daniel
O’Brien & Greg Merriman), who were going to the event in
Bratislava. So, while we were all waiting for the two separate
on-going flights, we had a party celebrating Greg’s 24th
birthday!”

Hubbell & Donahue made a splash last year when
they won at the Nebelhorn Trophy in their first international
together. They went on to earn bronze in nationals and take tenth
place in Worlds. On Thursday, they were surprised to hear that
Olympic champions Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir had withdrawn. “Well
that makes the event a lot more competitive,” Hubbell said with a
smile.

The Finns weren’t that concerned over the
withdrawal. A representative of the television company showing the
event said, “We have Kiira Korpi competing. For us she is a huge
star so the Canadians not being here is not that big a deal.”